Where is God in the Big Budget Bill?

Written By Christopher Gudger-Raines

Where is God in the Big Budget Bill?

The United Methodist approach to Christianity has a way of addressing these kinds of questions. The Wesleyan Quadrilateral is a methodology for examining Scripture, Tradition, Experience and Reason for wisdom and guidance on any matter before the community. What if we applied the Wesleyan Quadrilateral to the Big Budget Bill?

What does Scripture say?

From the early Patriarchs to the Hebrew Law to the Prophets to Jesus Christ, scripture contains ample teachings on protections for the poor, the stranger and the outcast among us. Jesus railed against any harm brought to children. His most famous parable defined love of neighbor as ‘showing mercy,’ and commanded his followers to do likewise. His final parable pronounced harsh condemnation on the unmerciful. It’s not hard to conclude that Jesus would adamantly oppose a bill that kicks millions off of medicaid, strips funding for SNAP and builds concentration camps for the immigrants among us.

What does Tradition say?

John Welsey was one of the founders of Methodism and distilled Christian ethical teaching to a three-pronged General Rule. That rule begins with “Do no harm.” It seems clear that many will be harmed by the Big Budget Bill: those who are already vulnerable among us. We also know that Wesley thought strongly that Christian teaching would correct the wrongs of society, including famously opposing slavery. Our modern United Methodist Church contains social principles on many matters addressed in the Big Budget Bill. AMong many things it proclaims that “We further believe that God calls all members of the human family to recognize and protect the dignity and worth of all people and to work for the well-being of all God’s creation. We, therefore, support structures in the church and in civil society that honor the basic freedoms and rights of all human beings and protect God’s creation.” It seems clear that there are many violations of basic human dignity in the Big Budget Bill.

What does Experience say?

Experiences vary. On matters of health care, poverty and the immigration, it is important to center the voices of those who do have such experience. We know that our for-profit healthcare system has excluded and denied care in many desperate situations. We know that hungry kids struggle to concentrate in school with their bellies rumbling. We know that immigration has brought undeniable net gain to the quality and abundance of our nation. We can learn about the incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII about the cruelty of such practices. Adding all of these together, there is no experiential justification for the level of cruelty the Big Budget Bill creates.

What does Reason say?

Reason tells us that legislation that removes Medicaid from 17 million people will have a negative effect on the overall health of the country. What then is the logical conclusion of a $69,000,000,000 investment in immigration enforcement plus billions more for staffing? With the emergence of a concentration camp built in the middle of the Florida Everglades, it seems logical that the government has plans to imprison large numbers of our neighbors. Instead of treating others the way they want to be treated, the authors and proponents of this bill treat others like less than human. Again, the cruelty defies any logic. Even the financial gains in things like for-profit prisons is unlikely to satisfy the obsessions guiding the authors of this bill.

Conclusion

It’s mind-boggling how so far removed from Christian teaching this Big Budget Bill is. Christians and any other human of conscience should oppose this bill adamantly.

Sources:

Christopher Gudger-Raines
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July 2025 Newsletter